The Cecil County mother who reported her 3-year old girl had been taken at gunpoint has been charged in her daughter’s death, authorities said.

Darriann Lynnelle Randle, 31, is charged with murder, child abuse, neglect, failing to report a child’s death, disposing a body in an unauthorized place and other related counts.

Cedric Antoine Britten, identified as Randle’s boyfriend, is charged with accessory after the fact to murder, neglect, failure to report the death of a child and other related counts.

Randle reported her child missing on Tuesday, around 9:30 p.m., and told police in Delaware that the 3-year-old girl, whose initials are ND, had been kidnapped near an office park in Newark at gunpoint, according to police charging documents.

Maryland State Police went to Randle’s last known address, in the 300 block of Elk Nest Drive, to corroborate Randle’s story, police said, noting that Britten “had a very neutral reaction” to being told ND had been kidnapped.

After smelling “bleach” inside the home and noticing two pairs of nitrile gloves, officers searched Britten’s car and found a “child size” blanket with a smear “consistent with blood” on it. Britten denied the blanket was his, according to charging documents.

During a recorded interview with law enforcement officials, Randle confessed that the reported kidnapping was not true and said she struck ND with a belt “approximately 15-20 times” on Monday.

After, Randle said, the child did not get back up so she called Britten for help. He attempted CPR. Eventually, Randle disposed of ND’s body in a vacant lot nearby, police said.

ND’s remains were found in a suitcase and appeared emaciated, police investigators wrote.

Randle is being held in Delaware, awaiting extradition to Cecil County, according to the Cecil County state’s attorney. Britten was released on $75,000 bond, according to online court records.

In an emailed statement, Assistant Public Defender Nicholas Cooksley, who is representing Britten, called the circumstances of the case tragic.

“However, until all of the evidence is revealed at trial, no one should be making any assumptions about this case or Mr. Britten, based only on one side of the story,” Cooksley wrote. “Mr. Britten is a veteran, without a prior record, and he is presumed to be innocent of the accusations against him.”

Randle’s case does not yet appear in online court records, and it is unclear if she has an attorney.

Banner intern Aline Behar Kado contributed to this article.